Captivate-ing+Podcasting

Kim McCain-Correll KimmieReeAnn@yahoo.com || || [|Final draft of Captivate Tutorial] [|Final draft of Captivate tutorial assessment]
 * || =Podcasting=

Overview
What on Earth is Podcasting?? Fishing for pods? Well, sort of. Podcasts are basically like radio programs, only sometimes with pictures, that you can listen to anytime on your iPod (or other mp3 player) or computer. And you don't even have to go "fishing" for them...A podcatcher goes out and gets 'em for you! In this simulation, budding podcasters will learn how to create an audio track for their own podcast. The learners are K-8 teachers who have requested a workshop on creating podcasts, so they come with some motivation to begin with. By giving teachers an opportunity to observe the creation of an audio file, then to try using some of the features of the "Audacity" software within the simulation, they will gain knowledge and confidence to create their own audio files. With these new abilities, they can also teach upper grade students how to create and editing their own recordings. Alternatively, students can use the tutorial and begin learning how to create their own podcast!

Instructional Objectives
Given a computer, microphone, and Audacity software program, the learner will be able tothe learner will be able to create an original audio file for use in a podcast:
 * Record an audio track
 * Edit their audio track
 * Export the audio track as an MP3 file

Learners
K-8 teachers on our school campus have no experience with podcasting, other than some of them having listened to a few podcasts. With the growing English Language Learner (ELL) population at our school, teachers are looking for new ways to reach these students, particularly in the area of technology. None of the teachers have had any experience in creating a podcast, but all have basic computer skills. Several teachers have expressed an interest in creating podcasts, but no courses in podcasting are currently being offered by the district. Designing instruction that will enable teachers to produce a podcast for, or with, their students will fill this gap, and give educators one more tool to use in reaching their learners.

Context of Use
This simulation can be used anywhere the learner has access to a Windows-based computer, a microphone, and the necessary software (Audacity). The computer lab at our school has all of the needed supplies, and is freely available for teachers' use. Although teachers have basic computer skills, none have ever recorded or edited any audio files using the computer. Through the use of this simulation, teachers will be able to observe the creation and editing of an audio file in "Audacity," and then try using the functions themselves.

Motivational Issues
According to John Keller's ARCS model, the first factor in motivation to learn is attention, the **"A"** in ARCS, which can be gained by those things that are novel and arouse curiosity. Since this activity is new to these teachers, as well as to the students that they teach, podcasting is definitely a novelty about they are eager to learn.

Relevance, **"R,"** is the second factor in the ARCS model, and as teachers are creating podcasts either with, or for, their students, the relevance is immediately recognizable. Given the wide range of possible topics about which a teacher could create a podcast, the teacher is in direct control of the relevance. As teachers have expressed interest in either creating podcasts which review skills they have already taught, or in introducing material prior to teaching new skills, these are "related to current interests or past experiences" (Keller), thus increasing the relevance.

In order to have confidence, the **"C"** in the ARCS model, learners must feel that there is an acceptable probability of success. In this simulation, teachers will be able to "try" some of the features of the "Audacity" program before using it on their own. One of the dimensions of confidence, in addition to perceived competence and expectancy for success, is perceived control (Keller). As previously mentioned, teachers will have control over their choice of subjects for their podcasts, increasing their confidence for one aspect of the project.

Satisfaction, the **"S"** in ARCS, is influenced by feedback, reinforcement, and intrinsic rewards (Keller). Through this simulation, teachers will acquire feedback and reinforcement while trying the different skills that are presented. The intrinsic reward will come with completion of the audio file, and ultimately with culmination of their podcast.

Design Process
Since I had never worked with "Captivate" before, the first order of business was to play around with the program to familiarize myself with its menus, and thus get an idea of its features. In addition to this, I went to the Adobe website and read up on Captivate's current capabilities, watched some tutorials that were actually made using Captivate, and attended Karl's introductory class on the subject. Now that I had a good idea what I could accomplish with the program, I storyboarded the aspect of podcast production that I was going to present, namely creating the audio track in a program called "Audacity." I have used "Audacity" several times, as well as taught it to my students, the hard way, by standing there telling them what to do next. My first thoughts before undertaking this task were, "What are the most basic skills needed to create an audio track?" The foundation skills that are needed to create a simple audio track are: I toyed with the idea of throwing out the whole "Download the LAME_enc.dll" part, as it requires a screen recording of the actual download process. However, in my opinion the LAME file and all that it entails seems like it would be the most confusing part of the whole ordeal to someone who is not terribly technologically literate, so I left it in. Without downloading the LAME file, users will be unable to export their recordings as MP3 files. Windows users will likely be using Movie Maker to create their video podcasts, and while Movie Maker does support other file formats such as .wav, the MP3 file is usable by other software programs as well, notably Mac's GarageBand. I did leave out the downloading of Audacity, partly because it isn't especially difficult, but mainly because of the ads for the movie "Hangover" that accompany that particular operation. In regards to the plugging in and checking of the microphone, I was unable to obtain a video recorder that was compatible with the pc I had to use.
 * Download "Audacity"
 * Plug in and check your microphone
 * Record your voice
 * Cut out unwanted sections of audio
 * Paste audio sections to new locations
 * Download the "LAME_enc.dll" file necessary to exporting as MP3
 * Export the file as an MP3

After all of that, I simply recorded my actions as I put together an uncomplicated audio track using Audacity. Doing this was not as easy at it first appeared to be. When you hover your mouse over the buttons in Audacity, it automatically tells what button you are hovering over. This was only a problem when I was recording the assessment, as it gave clues as to what the user was supposed to do, without giving them the opportunity to try to remember what they were supposed to do. It took about a dozen different recordings, and several hours worth of editing to come up with the demonstration video, and a bit less for the assessment video, since it was shorter.

Captivate could really be a handy tool, if given enough time, to create really useful videos for teaching. As I am currently a 4th/5th grade teacher, I have been brainstorming ideas for training videos that my students would be able to use Captivate would lend itself easily to math tutorials, where students have to put in the correct answer, or possibly click on the place where they need to work next, such as in division. I can also envision some language arts tutorials in the area of writing, where students might need to rearrange a paragraph or choose an appropriate word to fit in a sentence.